English morphemes

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Nation (2001:268)[1] lists the most useful affixes (prefixes and suffixes) in terms of learnability, divided into five stages according to the following criteria:# frequency, from high to low word frequency

  1. regularity, i.e., the degree of change in the base morpheme, in spelling or pronunciation (e.g., the sound changes in admire – admiration, nation – national - nationality)
  2. productivity, i.e., how often and readily it combines with other words; how often it is used as a morpheme to create new words
  3. predictablility – how predictable the meaning is from the word base / stem and its affixes


These include grammatical suffixes (verb and noun endings for tense and plural markers), and derivational affixes, used for forming new words from other words (like -able, -ment, pre-, etc.).


1 Stage 0. Standard grammatical morphemes (morphemes for grammatical markings)

-s

(noun & verb ending)

dogs and cats

it comes and goes

-ed

-ing

clipped

morphing


2 Stage 1. Frequent affixes - productive (taking novel base words), no change to base word (in writing or speech)

-able

-er

-ish

-less

-ly

commendable

fisher

fiendish

feckless

verbally

-ness

-th

-y non-

un-

lugubriousness

thirteenth

brawny

non-native

unconditional


3 Stage 2. Frequent somewhat productive often impose change on base word

-al

-ation

-ess

-ful

-ism

-ist

communal

alliteration

finess

stressful

naturalism

hedonist

-ity

-ize

-ment

-ous in-

parity

polarize

puzzlement

nervous

innoculate


4 Stage 3. Less frequent; low productivity; rarely imposes change on base word

-age

-al

-ally

-an

-ance

-ant

-ary

-atory

-dom

-eer

-en

-en

-ence

-ent

-ery

-ese

leakage

arrival

idiotically

Alaskan

clearance

consultant

revolutionary

confirmatory

kingdom

marketeer

wooden

widen

emergence

absorbent

trickery

officialese


-esque

-ette

-hood

-i

-ian

-ite

-let

-ling

-ly

-most

-ory

-ship

-ward

-ways

-wise


picturesque

usherette

childhood

Israeli

phonetician

parasite

coverlet

duckling

leisurely

topmost

contradictory

studentship

homeward

crossways

endwise


anti-

ante-

arch-

bi-

circum-

counter-

en-

ex-

fore-

hyper-

inter-

mid-

mis-

neo-

post-

pro-

semi-

sub-

un-

anti-inflation

anteroom

archbishop

biplane

circumnavigate

counter-attack

enslave

ex-president

forename

hyperactive

interweave

mid-week

misfit

neo-colonialism

post-date

pro-British

semi-automatic

subterranean

untie


5 Stage 4. Less frequent.

-able / -ible

-ee

-ic

-ify

-ion

-ist

cabable, edible

employee

acidic

reify

redaction

pianist

-ition

-ive

-th

-y pre-

re-

contrition

conducive

thirteenth

brawny

precondition

reverberate


6 Stage 5. Less frequent.

-ar

-ate

-et

-some

-ure

...ab-

ad-

com-


circular

compassionate, electorate

packet

troublesome

departure

...

abject

adjoin

commence

de-

dis-

ex- (out)

in- (in)

ob-

per-

pro- (in front of)

trans-

declassify

disproportionate

exhale

inhale

obstruct

pertinent

pro-active

transition



7 See also

  1. This handout is adapted from http://www.lextutor.ca/morpho/mainfix. Oddly, a few affixes are repeated here. The source is: Nation, Paul. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.